The present invention relates to snow blowers and particularly to snow blowers having a surrounding housing provided with an ejection duct for the discharge of the snow, which housing and duct are rotatably adjustable to vary the angle of trajectory of the discharged snow.
In general, snow blowers of this type comprises a centrifugal fan rotatable about a central axis supported on a fixed frame and is surrounded by a housing having a peripheral wall defining an opening in the clearing direction and a tangential discharge duct. In large snow blowers, particularly those which are to be mounted on vehicles, the housing is suspended on journal bearings or rotary ball connections so as to be rotatable, as by a hydraulic or pneumatic drive, through a large angle of swing to permit the throw angle of the discharge duct to be selectively adjustable.
The axial and radial play attendant to such housing suspension systems has an adverse effect on the operation of snow blowers especially on large snow blowers. Large snow masses are accelerated in the housing, by the fan which must revolve at a sufficiently high speed so as to centrifugally throw the snow. As a result, large vibratory forces are set up which are accentuated by the action of the individual blades, each separately propelling a portion of the snow. These vibrations are transmitted to the entire snow blower, including the fore section constituted by the fan and housing and the supporting vehicle in which the power drive mechanisms are located. The extra load on the fore part causes fissures to be easily created in the weld seams, fatigue in the metal parts and other damage to occur. In addition, the impact of the vibration is severe disturbance and presents a stressful situation to the operator of the snow blower.
To counteract the effect of such vibration, it had been previously proposed to fixedly support the housing at at least several points about its periphery. This known proposal is not effective since it provides only an insufficient dampening of the disturbing vibrations, and in addition hinders the ability to adjustably rotate the housing.
By the present invention means are provided for supporting the rotatable housing and snow blower, which overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages, and in particular a suspension means is provided for the housing which effectively supports and suppresses the disturbing vibrations, while permitting simple and easy maneuverability of the housing to its selected position.
A novel and improved coupling means is also provided by the present invention for coupling the rotatable housing of the snow blower to a fixed frame supporting the same.